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Loris Karius is not having the kind of debut season in goal at Liverpool he had hoped for entering the campaign. After winning the starting job over Simon Mignolet earlier in the year, he has struggled with his shot stopping and decision making in recent weeks.
In a 2-2 draw against West Ham on Sunday, he allowed a Dimitri Payet free kick to sneak under his hands before getting caught in no man's land on the Hammers' second goal. That performance irked former Reds defender Jamie Carragher, who spoke out following the match.
"The 'keeper got criticism last week and has come out and had a pop at Gary Neville and mentioned me and my advice would be: 'Shut up and just do your job,'" Carragher said (via Sky Sports). "Doing your job and answering your critics would be saving that [Payet's free kick]. That is not difficult, I think the positioning is fine, he gets across and reads it well and he is there. And his wrists, again like the first goal at Bournemouth, are not strong enough. It is not even in the corner and Payet has not even hit it that hard."
Carragher went on to say that Karius' lack of strength between the posts has made him question whether the goalkeeper is right for Liverpool.
"I have bigger problems with goals like that than mistakes, because mistakes happen, a 'keeper will drop one or do something stupid, every 'keeper does that," Carragher said. "That to me, you look at goals like that and think: 'It should not go in, is the 'keeper good enough?'"
Karius has indeed been subpar of late, but it's rather unfair to make such sweeping judgements of his skill level this early in his tenure. It's easy for Carragher to gain attention as a pundit through this kind of exaggerated language, but he should know better than to take this kind of combative stance.